Cromartie is playing at a level with the NFL's best cover corners this season, and he has taken more of a leadership role since Darrelle Revis was lost for the season. Maybe that's why Cromartie's still preaching hope, saying the postseason remains a certain destiny for the 3-5 Jets.

"The Jets will make the playoffs this year," Cromartie told NFL Network's "NFL AM" on Thursday. "We believe in each other, we believe in what Coach (Rex) Ryan and his staff is putting us to schemes and stuff, so we definitely are going to make the playoffs this year."

Let's back the truck up. Cromartie was asked point-blank if the Jets still would be around in January. What can he say? If he trumpets the opposite, he's the poster boy for a sinking ship. Cromartie just answered the question, but that's never a simple process with the Jets.

Stranger things have happened in this society, but Ryan's boys have suffered too many injuries and self-inflicted wounds to be taken seriously in the AFC.